Client Development Coaching for Senior Associates and Junior Partners
Was anyone surprised that Tiger Woods won the PGA tournament over the last weekend? I certainly was not surprised. I know the PGA has many outstanding golfers. Yet, no one on the tour goes into a major tournament better prepared than Tiger Woods. During his interview on Sunday, Tiger Woods talked about his consistency of ball striking and putting. He also explained how he prepared for the tournament. He visited and walked the Southern Hills golf course, visualized the shots he expected to make and practiced those shots. Tiger Woods is clearly the number one golfer in the world. Even the best golfer in the world has a coach. Hank Haney.
Even though the greatest golfer in the world has a coach, most lawyers my age don't see the value of coaching lawyers on client development. Those lawyers never had coaches when they were senior associates or junior partners, so they can't see the value of it now. Most lawyers my age also believe lawyers either "get it" (how to develop business) or don't. They believe lawyers who are successful at business development were born with the traits that enable them to bring in business.
Why is it important to have coaching for senior associates and junior partners now? There are several reasons. First, developing business now is way more challenging than it was 25 years ago. There are way more lawyers making the competition greater, client expectations have increased, and the time available for business development has decreased. When I was a young partner, most lawyers developed business by doing excellent work and waiting for the phone to ring. Most clients in those days were both local and loyal. It's way more complicated now. Through consolidation and mergers, clients that were locally owned are now part of national and international companies. So, it is more difficult to become visible to those clients. Second, many senior associates and junior partners are in the transition stage of their career, moving from being solely service providers to being responsible for developing and building client relationships. For many, that is a daunting task. They do not know where to start. As a result, they do not start, or they give up quickly when some of their efforts do not work. To the extent there is any effort at all, it is unstructured, unfocused and ultimately unsuccessful. Many lawyers procrastinate, are undisciplined, have no written plan and ultimately little or no execution.
When I was actively practicing law, I did not have the time to focus on helping our junior lawyers with business development. Frankly, I did not have time to analyze why some things worked for me, while others did not. Now that I am no longer billing 2000 hours, I have time to analyze what worked for me and why it worked.
Before I left my old law firm, I went to the leaders and told them I had peaked in my own business development efforts and offered to take 15 brand new partners and work with them on their client development. I bragged I could help the group double the collective business volume in two years. They actually accomplished that goal in one year. I enjoyed working with our pilot group so much that I decided to leave my law firm so I could work with lawyers in other firms.
If you have someone in your firm who will take the time to coach and work with your senior associates and junior partners, I think you will see both a benefit to the lawyers coached and a benefit to your firm.
Here are some thoughts on what you might do. The person who volunteers to coach should be like a fitness coach. In other words, he or she will help the participants be accountable to themselves and to the "team." I love a quote I read recently in a book by Jack Canfield. The quote was attributed to Fast Company magazine: "Executive coaches are not for the meek. They are for people who value unambiguous feedback..."
Put simply, the most important factor in the success of any coaching program is the burning desire of the participants to get better at client development and their willingness and openness to being coached. So, the first thing you must do is select the right people.
The second thing I suggest is to create both an individual effort and a team dynamic. Participants will learn what activities will provide the greatest benefit to them and then will have regularly scheduled sessions with the coach to report on activities and learn more. I have been amazed by the group dynamic. No one in the group wants to let the rest of the team down and they feed off of each other's ideas.
In an effective coaching program, young lawyers will:
• Develop a Business Plan
• Determine both group and individual goals that will challenge and stretch them
• Determine what activities to undertake to meet their goals
• Learn how to write articles and give presentations that will enhance their reputation and increase their chances of getting hired.
• Develop a Focused Contacts Plan
• Become more client focused
• Be held accountable
I bet that many of the lawyers my age who do not believe in coaching lawyers get golf lessons from PGA professionals. I submit that if the greatest golfer in the world benefits from coaching, the greatest young lawyers in the world would also.
